Mamata stalls eviction drive for a month, directs setting up hawker zones

Kolkata: Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Thursday directed that hawkers be given a month to clear the footpath and the parts of the roads they have encroached on, hindering the smooth movement of pedestrians.

She formed a committee to conduct a survey of the same and demanded a report within 15 days.

“I have no right to take away anyone’s source of income or render anyone unemployed. Millions run their families by hawking. There will be no eviction for one month. During this period, the hawkers will have to clear footpaths,” Banerjee said while chairing a meeting on hawker and illegal encroachments at Nabanna.

Banerjee instructed Kolkata Mayor Firhad Hakim, MLA Rashbehari Debasish Kumar, MLA Cossiore- Belgachia Atin Ghosh and Jadavpur MLA Debabrata Majumder to take responsibility for identifying areas in the city where hawker zones can be made within next month. “If necessary, take three months time (to make the zones) and then make it systematic,” she said.

Banerjee said that no hawker would sit with more than one stall (Dala in Bengali parlance) and no one can stack materials on footpaths.

“Bengal’s culture is not to evict hawkers by force or by using bulldozers. The problem is a single hawker is sitting with four–five dalas on footpaths. You (hawkers) cannot make godowns on footpaths just beside your stall as it robs the pedestrians of the right to walk on pavements and compromises their safety as they are compelled to walk on roads,” Banerjee added.

She instructed stalls should be made following fire norms and each stall will have an identity number. Each hawker will get one stall. She suggested identifying a building near hawking zones where hawkers can keep their wares after a day’s business.

Accusing the local councillors of extorting money from the hawkers, the Chief Minister said, “In some areas, Hatibagan for example, the footpath and a good portion of road have been encroached by hawkers. The local councillors are to be blamed for this. They are allowing hawkers to sit in exchange of money and are then evicting them with bulldozers. This cannot be done.”

Drawing reference to the arrest of Trinamool Congress leader Debasis Pramanik of Dabgram in Siliguri, on allegations of encroaching land, the Chief Minister said: “You have seen that one leader from Dabgram has been arrested. Why are you so overwhelmed with greed? You are always craving for more. In any area where such things are happening, the councillor will be arrested irrespective of political affiliations,” she thundered.

Banerjee also instructed the police to curb illegal parking. Parking should not be allowed for the purpose of extorting money. If there is any scope for legal parking then it can be done in consultation with the administration, she said.

The police and the administration began a mass hawker eviction drive across the state. With the police acting tough against such encroachments and evicting hawkers, many of them had complained that they had been sitting on the roads for more than 20 or 30 years and demanded to know how else are they to earn their livelihood if they are evicted. It was after this that the Chief Minister decided to hold a meeting again on Thursday.